


Pull Me Down

by enjolraes



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, From dusk till dawn
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, semi-au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 23:31:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11839287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjolraes/pseuds/enjolraes
Summary: “I love you, too,” Kate interrupts, and Seth stops breathing. He turns to face her.“Oh.”“Oh, is right.”He looks embarrassed. Kate can’t fight the smile off her face.“Didn’t want to say it like that.” His voice is rough. “The first time.”“Did you plan it?” Kate’s heart is racing.“Oh, yeah,” Seth says, and rolls onto his back, groaning. “There was going to be a quartet, flowers. Snails or some shit for dinner, something fancy.”“Were you going to sing it?”“No,” Seth says, dragging an arm over his sleepy eyes. “That’s what the quartet was for, Kate. Obviously.”Or, alternatively, the one where Kate and Seth trade in the West for the Northeast, buy a house, and allow themselves to be happy and in love.





	Pull Me Down

**Author's Note:**

> My friend requested an "I love you" from either Seth or Kate while asleep... And this is what came out. I truly don't know how to write short one shots, so enjoy this instead!!

Everything after Amaru comes in spurts. First, there’s the motel room the night after the showdown in Matanzas. Kate’s weakened, exhausted. She can barely stay awake long enough to keep her eyes open, can barely remember to keep breathing. The night comes in and out, darkness rising out of dreams of nothing, swallowing Kate whole. Every time, there’s Seth, arms steady in front of her. He coaxes her back to sleep, every time, and even though she isn’t sure she's actually forming words, he seems to know she’s grateful. The next few weeks are gaps of time marked only by Seth waking Kate to drink, to eat. Richie popping in and out of their lives, Scott’s voicemails. Red dust fading into big leafy greens, colder nights than Kate’s used to. Showers that are more Seth than Kate, red dye pooling down the drain. Clean clothes that are a whole lot bigger than she’s used to, all bright colors. One night, Kate thinks lazily to herself that a man who’s perennially on the run should be better at keeping a low profile. 

It doesn’t dawn on her until the next time she wakes from a dreamless, blank sleep that maybe he’s trying to counteract all of Amaru’s black, give Kate back the life she deserves. 

 

It takes a prolonged period of time, but Kate works her strength back up. Seth’s there when she sits up alone in bed, worried look etched painfully across his face. Kate wants to trace her fingers over all those fracture lines, mend the ones she personally broke. She doesn’t know how to apologize and make it sound genuine; neither does he. 

“I want to swim,” she manages, and he shakes his head.

“Kate.”

“I want to swim,” she reiterates stubbornly, and Seth just sighs. His eyes are kind, contrast to his war-hardened face. “You can come in with me.” 

His Adam’s apple lurches. “No.” 

“You’ve already showered with me,” Kate says sleepily, pushing herself up with one arm. She very pointedly looks away from the scars of when Amaru tried to cut her out of her own skin. “So, this is pretty tame.” 

Seth fixes her with a pained look. “You aren’t strong enough yet.”

“I fought off the Queen of Xibalba for weeks,” Kate says, matching Seth’s stubborn gaze. She’s won so many of these fights before, it’s like riding a bike. Better than riding a bike. More satisfying. “I sent her back to hell. I’m pretty sure I can handle some _water_.” 

Seth sighs, dragging a long hand across his face. “You’re not going to let me win this,” he says. “Are you.” It isn’t a question.

Kate raises an eyebrow. “Not likely.” 

Seth groans. Kate stares.

They go to the pool. 

 

The days and nights pass, fleeting and hazy. They blend together in a familiar sort of way, but this time, the two of them aren’t on the run together. They’re just… Together. There’s no urgency, no adrenaline pumping, no demons yapping at their heels. Seth falls into this pattern of domesticity; Kate lets him. 

There haven’t been words yet, to span the feelings growing and tumbling between the two of them. Seth’s apologized, each one more prolonged and yearning than the last. Kate’s forgiven him, every time. She thinks maybe it shouldn’t be this easy, forgiving the man who kidnapped her and killed her whole family, herself included. A smaller, darker part of herself knows that she shouldn’t, that maybe she should make Seth burn for all the ways he’s hurt her. But Kate knows that’s not possible. It never was. He’s sorry, he’s spending the rest of his life proving it. She’s okay with letting him. 

Kate lays awake more nights than he does, although it’s still hard for him to sleep. He’s told her, in fragments, of all the dreams he’s had of her haunting him since they parted ways. She doesn’t let on she’s had similar, ones all ending with him leaving her on the side of the road. They discuss it without talking about it, all in stolen glances and bitten lips. 

Seth’s breathing while he’s asleep is so even, calmed. It’s such a stark contrast to how he lives his life, electric and frantic, that Kate’s entranced by it. She’d much rather watch him sleep than get any of her own. It’s just nothingness behind her eyelids. It’s worse than all the nightmares; worse than being forced to watch Amaru use her own body as a divining rod for horror. It’s worse because Kate’s spent her whole life trying to get into heaven, and _this can’t be all there is_.

 

The next week passes. The air’s gotten much colder. Seth’s hot-wired multiple cars, ditching them every few states. Kate thinks they’re in New England now. There’s lots and lots of ocean, rushing and crashing along the shore. No matter where they go, the sound of the sea follows. 

Seth’s stopped getting motel rooms with two beds. Kate watches him while he sleeps, concentrates on the rhythm of his breathing. She glances her fingertips across his face one night, and he murmurs and presses into her, easy and warm. They wake up the next morning, intertwined with sheets tangled in between them. Kate doesn’t know what this means, what any of this means. She’s not sure if she really needs to, though. 

Being on the run with an ex-con with a dangerous smile and an even more dangerous past, who kidnapped her and her whole family, was never in Kate’s game plan. Neither was escaping an ancient temple, neither was getting into that Camaro, neither was stealing and running for a living. Neither was dying and getting possessed by the Queen of Hell. Kate’s never been too concerned about her future; knowing faith would guide her no matter where she went. But this is something God himself could have never predicted. 

Kate goes in a church in New Hampshire for the first time since they got Amaru out of her. She just sits in the pew, eyes closed. Maybe she’d be able to hear God without Seth next to her, anxious and shaking. She wants to come back without him, she doesn’t ever want to leave his side again. It’s that same suffocating feeling that dreamless sleep gives her: both choices are impossible and she still doesn’t know which way to turn. Once, she had a moral compass. By now, it’s eroded, or morphed into something new. 

 

She wakes up from a nightmare, screaming and crying. Seth’s right there, arms a forcefield against the whole world. “Kate. Katie. It’s me, I got you. You’re safe.” 

“Hell,” she murmurs, suddenly exhausted. There’s a shard of the moon cutting through the window, drenching her right arm in light. She pulls her ruined wrist away from it. “I think I need -- I don’t know.” 

Seth’s eyes are furtive. “Talk?” he says gruffly. She raises an eyebrow. “Do you want to talk about it?” He expands. Kate sighs. 

“Yes. No. I-- No. Can you just hold me?” 

Seth nods. His arms are strong and warm, heart beating against her own. They lay down like that for a while, listening to the sea crash relentless against the shore. “Where are we?” Kate says, and it comes out muffled against his chest. She realizes he’s shirtless; her lips are glancing and pressing off of him. He exhales, soft and low. 

“Massachusetts, I think.”

“I like it here,” Kate says, and it’s so quiet she isn’t sure if he heard her. “Seth? Can we stay here for a little while?” His hand shifts, thumb sliding under the back of her t-shirt. Kate’s stomach flips. She presses herself against Seth a little harder, and he lets out a low groan. 

“Yeah, babe. Yeah, we can stay for a while.” 

Kate’s stomach thrills with the word _babe_. That’s new. 

Outside, the ocean swells and crashes against the shoreline. 

 

It’s decidedly autumn now. Kate’s not sure how the fall is in Kansas, but she’s certainly never experienced such a chill. Texas got cold in the winter, but this is unlike anything she’s ever felt. It cuts clean through her, freezing and relentless. The leaves all burn brilliantly along the trees, though, and it’s so beautiful, it makes the cold worth it. Well, that, and Seth’s arms around her, but who’s counting? 

“Seth?” 

“Mm.” 

“Do you think we should… I don’t know, get an actual place?”

Seth nearly spits out his coffee. “What-- a house?”

Kate shrugs, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know. An apartment, maybe. We’ve been here for three and a half weeks. Seems like maybe we should get a place that isn’t a crappy motel room.” 

“I happen to like living out of crappy motel rooms,” Seth says, but his voice isn’t stubborn, just practiced. “Reminds me of the good old days--”

“--The good old days on the run from the law, nearly getting killed every day?”

“That was the life,” Seth deadpans. Kate scoffs, rolls her eyes. She tries not to notice the smile that dances across his face when she makes a noise that sounds an awful lot like laughter. She fails. “Best days I ever had.”

“Wow,” Kate says, and she’s not offended. Just practiced. “All that fun, without me?” 

Seth chokes on his coffee again. “As I remember, you were there for part of it.” 

Kate rolls her eyes again. “Not as fun as you remember. I kind of like moving from place to place without the imminent threat of death around every corner. Or, rather, actual imminent death. I died, remember?”

Seth exhales, jaw clenched. “Are we joking about that now,” he asks, and it’s so soft, Kate’s heart skips a beat. She tries to shrug it off. 

“Proof that maybe I’m not fucked up beyond repair.” 

Seth’s hand moves from where it’s curled around his coffee cup. His fingers find their way to Kate’s, lightly brushing across her hands. A chill runs down Kate’s spine. She laces her fingers through his, definitive. His face has softened, and Kate holds her breath. 

An exhale. “A house?” 

Kate raises an eyebrow. “An apartment is fine. It’s not like we have a ton of money--”

“I can get more money,” Seth says, and Kate fixes him with a look. “I am very good at stealing things, Katie.” 

“I want to stay here for a while,” she reminds him, and he offers her a half-smile. “You can’t rob this place blind, okay? This is a Gecko-brothers-free town. No shenanigans, mister.” 

Seth grins. “No promises.”

 

They get a house. It’s a tiny one, a fixer-upper. There’s only one bedroom, which Kate secretly thinks was Seth’s only stipulation. It’s right on a little bluff by the sea, which is what she wanted, was hoping for. At night, the house swells up with the scent of salt and cold air, and it’s the easiest she’s slept in years. 

It’s taken them a few months, but they’ve settled in. Seth’s always anxious, constantly tensed up. Kate knows it’s his fight-or-flight kicking in, that practiced and learned ability to get himself out of a bad situation at a moment’s notice. They’ve been talking about buying a bar. Maybe alcohol wouldn’t solve all of their problems, not much ever could, but it makes Seth easier, relaxed, and Kate likes the way he holds her after a beer, careful but possessive. 

Their bed is warm, and as winter blows its way into town, Kate is glad for it. She isn’t sure how she ever slept without Seth next to her, large and present. His arms fold her up at night, swallowing her whole. There’s still nightmares, still that nothingness. She brings it up one night, lacking the words to describe what it’s like. 

“It’s worse than hell,” she manages, and Seth’s arm glances against hers. She can feel his eyes on the back of her neck, her staring out the window. “It’s worse because it’s nothing. I didn’t go anywhere, when I died.” She clears her throat, burrows into him. “I don’t-- I don’t understand. I was dead. I died, and I just… _died_. That was it.” 

“Kate,” Seth starts, but she exhales heavily, and he bites back his words. 

“My whole life… I’ve known there was an afterlife. I saw hell with my own eyes, Seth. I know it’s there.” She breathes. “And… I don’t know.”

“Kate, “ he whispers again. His breath tickles her hair against her neck. “Maybe you just… weren’t dead long enough to get into heaven.” And it’s so careful, so soft, that Kate turns to look at him. Seth’s not one to believe in fate, in heaven, in hell. But now -- Kate knows something’s changed, inside of him. She’s known it since she first saw him again, strangled and trapped inside of her own body. There’s enough ghosts dancing around Seth’s eyes for the two of them, and it’s terrifying to know that if Kate focuses on them long enough, they’ll all take her shape. 

“Do you think I’ll get in?” Kate whispers, and it comes out like nothing, just air. Seth’s eyes are on her lips. “When I die for real.” 

“You’re not allowed to find that out for a long, long time,” Seth says, voice rough. “You hear me?” 

Kate nods, bringing her head to his chest. She brushes her lips along the left side, feeling his heartbeat quicken against her. “I know.”

Seth sighs, long and resigned. It’s relieved, it’s prolonged. Kate pushes herself against him, and knows that the sinful part of herself is hoping some part of the sigh is due to her body pressed against hers. Seth shifts closer to her. They’re both half asleep when Kate hears his answer. 

“You’re going to get in to heaven, Kate.” 

 

There’s snow on the ground before she knows it. Most days, Kate sits on the sunken front porch and watches the sea. She knows she needs to think about college; to think about what the next step is. Recovering from this is the hardest thing she’s ever done, exhausting and draining, and when she brings this up to Seth, he offers her a justification. “You came back to life. Twice. I don’t think you have to do anything else with that life, if you don’t want to. Just live it.” 

Kate wants to. But she needs to know what comes next. 

 

Seth walks in on her getting ready to shower, towel wrapped protectively against her body. The steam from the hot water curls out into the bathroom. He turns to leave, she says nothing, letting the towel drop to the floor. Seth’s gaze is hungry, measured. Kate steps in, pushing away the shower curtain. It takes a second, but he disrobes and follows her in. They’re both quiet, watching the water droplets run and pool off their bodies to the slick floor. Kate brings a hand to his tattooed arm, tracing it with barely-there fingers. Seth is quiet, eyes ravenous. “Kiss me,” Kate says finally, and he does. 

She’s up against the wall, body smothered with Seth’s. His lips move from hers to her neck, greedy and impatient. She moans, he leans into her. “More,” she says, and Seth breaks away to stare at her. 

“You sure?” 

Kate keeps his gaze as she grabs his hand, slides it up her thigh. He gawks at her, mouth open. 

“I said, _more_.” 

Seth obliges. 

 

That night, neither of them sleep. They explore each other, all over the house. Kate finds Seth’s sweet spot, on his neck right before it meets his collarbone. He finds out she likes it best when he lifts her up on top of the counter, height level with his. They sink into each other, again and again and again. 

The next morning should be awkward, but it’s not. They go out for breakfast, Seth’s hands never leave Kate. She loves the way they encircle her, impatient and possessive. It’s like a public, angry declaration to the world that he’s hers. The waitress in the diner checks Seth out, obvious. Seth never even looks at her. 

“When it gets warmer,” Kate says that night, in between kisses, “Fuck me in the ocean.” 

 

It’s weeks later, December cold and relentless outside their door. Kate’s made Seth bundle up every time he goes outside, despite his protestations. 

“I have hot blood.” 

“Everyone has hot blood, Seth. You can still get frostbite.” 

“I’m pretty sure I can intimidate frostbite.” 

“Well,” Kate says, “if anyone could.” 

 

Time slows down when it’s just the two of them. Neither of them leave the house much. It’s started to smell like them, really becoming a true home. The nightmares come in and out, in waves. Kate’s started to accept that the vast nothingness that plagues her in her sleep will be a part of her for the foreseeable future, leftovers from when her body was a battlefield. It’s hard, but she’s grown into them, upward and determined. Seth’s started to talk in his sleep, mostly nonsense. And then, one night, it’s there, before Kate can prepare herself. 

“I love you.” 

Kate’s heart swells. “Seth,” she whispers, and he shifts sleepily against her. “Seth,” she says urgently, and he snores. 

“I love you,” she answers finally. It feels like penance, feels like forgiveness. “I love you--” 

“Kate.” Seth’s awake, voice gruff. “You are shouting.” 

She rolls her eyes, props herself up on her elbow. “You talk in your sleep, Mr. Gecko.” 

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Seth starts. “Please, shut up. I am trying to sleep--” 

“I love you, too,” Kate interrupts, and Seth stops breathing. He turns to face her. 

“Oh.” 

“Oh, is right.” 

He looks embarrassed. Kate can’t fight the smile off her face. 

“Didn’t want to say it like that.” His voice is rough. “The first time.” 

“Did you plan it?” Kate’s heart is racing. 

“Oh, yeah,” Seth says, and rolls onto his back, groaning. “There was going to be a quartet, flowers. Snails or some shit for dinner, something fancy.”

“Were you going to sing it?” 

“No,” Seth says, dragging an arm over his sleepy eyes. “That’s what the quartet was for, Kate. Obviously.”

Kate bites her lip. “Quartets usually don’t sing,” she says, stubborn. “They’re usually instrumental--”

“I love you,” Seth interrupts loudly. “I love you, okay? Even though you know way too much about fucking quartets at three in the morning. Can you shush now? Please? Because I was asleep--” 

“You are such a complainer,” Kate says. “You’re the biggest complainer in the world. I mean it. I know it seems like an exaggeration, but you really are.” 

Seth groans again, all dramatic. He pushes himself up with one arm, rolls on top of Kate. She hums happily as his lips latch onto her neck. 

“Seth.” 

“Mmm,” he moans against her. 

“What are you doing?” 

Seth lifts his lips from her neck to stare Kate right in the eyes. “I’m making you shut up, because apparently, you don’t know how to on your own.” 

Kate giggles. “Seth.” 

By way of response, Seth puts one hand over her mouth. She’s about to lick it, to tease him more, but his other finds its way under her panty line. She moans into his hand instead. 

“Shut up,” he says again. His eyes flash. His hand is hot against her, inside her. Kate obliges. 

 

Winter passes, spring finds itself on top of them, rolling and wild. The weather in New England is oscillating, roiling. It’s hot one minute, cold the next. They open the bar, name it Venom. Neither Richie nor Scott find it particularly funny, but Seth does, so Kate lets it slide. Summer roars into them, hot and humid. Seth makes good on his promise: They fuck in the ocean. 

Not a day goes by where they don’t say I love you. Kate’s started to sleep better, that vast nothingness melting partially into dreams again. She thinks she might apply to colleges in the fall. Seth’s proud and fierce, smile loud and wild. Kate asks if it’d be okay if she goes somewhere that isn’t the sleepy town in Massachusetts. Seth promises he’ll follow her anywhere. 

Kate knows he has a ring hidden somewhere, but she doesn’t push it. There’s plenty of time for that now, all that life left to be lived. She wants to, she knows that. Live. She doesn’t want to die to rectify for Amaru’s sins anymore. When Seth finally proposes, it’s on the beach. Kate says yes. 

She asks if she should change her last name to his. He says to hyphenate. She agrees.


End file.
